Cross-country study on the promotion of new pharmaceutical products

摘要

Detailers are one of the most powerful components of pharmaceutical marketing. Drug manufactures spend a lion's share of their marketing budgets on their detailers, and with direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing coming under closer scrutiny, it is likely that detailing will receive even more funding in the coming years. This thesis analyzes how differences in detailing regulations in the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy, and France lead to differences in the promotion and sales of antinausea, antihypertensive, and antipsychotic medications during the time period of 1992 to 2003. In order to determine if promotional efforts vary across generations of medications in the same therapeutic class, antinausea and antipsychotic medications are classified as new and old generations and antihypertensives are classified as new, middle, and old generations in this study. Qualitative and quantitative methods are used to examine population, economic, price, promotional, regulatory, and cultural factors that contribute to the sales of pharamaceutical products. The qualitative discussion includes an overview of all five sample countries' health care systems, health care policies, and the prevalence of hypertension, cancer incidence, and psychosis.